Educator to present Klemmer Lecture

“Reversing the Educational
Apocalypse:
An Arts and Literacy Way Forward" will be presented by Washburn
alumnus
Chris Goering at the 2012 Herbert and Jo Ann Klemmer Lecture at
3:30 p.m., Thursday,
Oct. 11 in Carole Chapel, on the Washburn University campus. No
admission is
charged and the public is invited to attend. Seating is limited.

Goering is an associate
professor of English education and assistant program coordinator
of curriculum
and instructor at the University of Arkansas.
He also serves as director of the Northwest Arkansas
Writing Project and
director of the Center for Children and Youth.

In 2010, he was
elected to the National Council of Teachers of English Secondary
Section
Steering Committee and also appointed to the NCTE Research
Forum. In 2007, he
was invited as a lifetime member of the Kansas Exemplary
Educator Network
sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education following
the successful
completion of National Board Certification for Teachers (2006)
in
English/Language Arts/Adolescence and Young Adulthood. The
National
Council of Teachers of English recognized Goering in 2004 as a
High School
Teacher of Excellence and The Writing Conference named him the
Judith C.
Gilbert Outstanding Writing Teacher the same year.

In 2007, he
founded www.LitTunes.com as
an open access educational outreach initiative dedicated to
enhancing and
developing adolescents' literacies through popular music and
music lyrics.
LitTunes hosts essays, research, lesson plans and song to
literature
connections provided, in part, by stakeholders across the
country.

Goering received
a
bachelor of arts degree in English education from Washburn
University and a
master of education degree and a doctorate, both in curriculum
and instruction
from Kansas State University.

The Klemmer Lecture was made possible by an endowment established for the Washburn University English department by Topekan Jo Ann Klemmer in memory of her husband, Herbert, who served many years as a psychiatrist at Menninger. Mrs. Klemmer earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Washburn in 1953.

What's an Ichabod?

Washburn's mascot, the Ichabod, honors the school's early benefactor, Ichabod Washburn, a 19th century Massachusetts industrialist. The original design of the studious-looking, tuxedo-clad figure was created in 1938 by Bradbury Thompson (ba '34), who became an internationally acclaimed graphic artist. Design wasn't Thompson's only consideration. To the stylized Ichabod the artist attributed the qualities of "...courage and enthusiasm, as shown by his brisk walk. He is democratic and courteous, for he tips his hat as he passes. Sincere in his search for truth and knowledge, he studiously carries a book under his arm..."